"Nineteen Eighty-Four"
[...]
The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought--that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc--should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever. To give a single example. The word FREE still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as 'This dog is free from lice' or 'This field is free from weeds'. It could not be used in its old sense of 'politically free' or 'intellectually free' since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. Quite apart from the suppression of definitely heretical words, reduction of vocabulary was regarded as an end in itself, and no word that could be dispensed with was allowed to survive. Newspeak was designed not to extend but to DIMINISH the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.
[...]
(op. cit., início do Apêndice)
Uma verdadeira descrição do paraíso terrestre! (pelo menos para alguns). Já estará a acontecer?
Ora aqui está uma obra que vale a pena ler (ou reler) como um guia para estes tempos de escuridão.
George Orwell (1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four (versão livre, para não haver desculpas)
Comentário(s)
Oportuníssima citação, MJMatos. Nos tempos que correm, quem tem um mínimo de sensibilidade e consciência, não pode deixar de sentir-se como um Winston Smith.
Espero que consigamos sobreviver ilesos e não sucumbamos ao plano de re-educação do "Ministry of Love"!
Posted by: DK | julho 9, 2008 04:12 AM
Winston Smith é um bom paralelo para os tempos modernos por duas razões: porque nos faz ver como podemos fazer interpretações menos exactas de um mundo complexo sem realmente o percebermos; e porque vemos o efeito do isolamento/solidão nessa tentativa.
É um paradigma da (falta de) comunicação, que é de facto o grande "monstro" de "1984".
A possibilidade de manter uma comunicaçao livre é uma garantia de sobrevivência (e de sanidade) no mundo actual.
Posted by: MJMatos | julho 11, 2008 06:23 PM